Re: m.s. m.f.t.

[lbo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

At 11:09 AM 3/5/2005, Devine, James wrote:
> Also, what if Dick Cheney is one of those who watches "women in prison"
> movies? then it would be a _reward_.

I suspect that rarely do we really want our fantasies fulfilled. It would
probably scare the dickens out of 'im. Also, short prison times are best
for scaring the hell out of the offender. I don't know if that finding
still holds, learned it many moons ago. But, it seems intuitively obvious.
According to the research, 6 months was about the point someone would start
to get used to the environment, and once they round that bend, they become
acclimated to the system, enough so that, as the old chestnut goes, they
aren't quite as terrified by the prospect of another round of jailtime.
They have the t-shirt already.

This was a popular stat in the 80s, *sigh*. People pointed to it as a way
to lower costs: you aren't getting much ROI for the increased jailtime, to
put it in today's popular business lingo. Alas, even if it 'works' it
apparently didn't fly with the u.s. public then, and surely *sigh* wouldn't
fly now.



--
http://www.inkworkswell.com

"Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones.
But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap
of stones is a house. "


                       -- Jules Henri Poincaré
                          La Science et l'hypothèse